Devik Jain and Bansari Mayur Kadar

(Reuters) – U.S. stock indices fell on Tuesday. The correction was confirmed by a selloff of technology stocks in advance Federal Reserve policy meeting. This overshadowed positive results from blue-chip businesses including IBM (3M)

Before bouncing back at the end of the session, Monday’s correction was confirmed by the benchmark index. An index that closes at 10% lower than its previous record level is considered a correction.

U.S equities have had a turbulent start to 2022, with the S&P 500 now down 10.4% from its record closing high on Jan. 3, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq tracked its worst start to the year since 1980.

Later in the day, the Fed will hold its two-day meeting on monetary policy. This will be closely watched for clues about the Fed’s plans for raising key interest rates to fight inflation.

Fed funds futures traders have priced in a 25 basis point increase in March as well as three rate increases at the end of this year.

All of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors declined in early trading, with eight of them down more than 2% each.

According to Dan Eye, Fort Pitt Capital Group’s chief investment officer, “It looks like the market reacts to the new reality of tighter Fed policy… You probably won’t see anyone take any big bets before that meeting on Wednesday.”

With the U.S. Department of Defense reporting that approximately 8500 American troops had been placed on high alert due to geopolitical tensions, uncertainty is increasing.

10:00 a.m. ET, the was down 764.89 points, or 2.23%, at 33,599.61, the S&P 500 was down 115.61 points, or 2.62%, at 4,294.52, and the was down 395.35 points, or 2.85%, at 13,459.78.

Fourth-quarter earnings season started on mixed notes. All eyes are now on Microsoft (NASDAQ)’s mega-cap growth company after the market close Tuesday. Then, Apple (NASDAQ) and Tesla (NASDAQ) will follow later in this week.

Earnings from S&P 500 companies were expected to grow 24.1% year-over-year, according to IBES estimates from Refinitiv.

Eye stated that Q4 earnings were “certainly good” but are more consistent with our expectations than the big beats we have seen in the past four quarters.

General Electric After the conglomerate’s disappointing quarterly results, Co dropped 8.4%

IBM rose 0.6% as the IT company beat Wall Street quarterly estimates for profit and revenue, while 3M lost 2.5% despite outperforming market forecasts.

American Express (NYSE:) jumped 3.4% on upbeat fourth-quarter profit, while another Dow component, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:), was flat after missing estimates for fourth-quarter revenue.

For a ratio of 6.86 to 1 on the NYSE, and 4.07 to 1, on the Nasdaq, decliners outnumbered advances

The S&P index recorded no new 52-week high and two new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded six new highs and 45 new lows.